


the sleepless hours

by myaimistrue



Series: I knew this day would come to finally save me/teach me to love, and how to stay (Nora and MacCready) [3]
Category: Fallout 4
Genre: Duncan being adorable, F/M, Family, Family Fluff, Fluff, Light Angst, MacCready being a dad, Nora being the incredible woman she is, Parent-Child Relationship, Parenthood
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-21
Updated: 2020-08-21
Packaged: 2021-03-07 01:13:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,325
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26028529
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/myaimistrue/pseuds/myaimistrue
Summary: Duncan has a nightmare. Nora and MacCready have a grown-up talk.
Relationships: Robert Joseph MacCready/Female Sole Survivor, Robert Joseph MacCready/Sole Survivor
Series: I knew this day would come to finally save me/teach me to love, and how to stay (Nora and MacCready) [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1843762
Comments: 8
Kudos: 28





	the sleepless hours

**Author's Note:**

> Timeline stuff if you're interested:
> 
> Lucy and MacCready got together when they were both about 16, and got married when she found out she was pregnant at 17. She dies like six months after Duncan is born. So I'm putting Duncan's age here at around four or five? It's definitely up to interpretation.

MacCready woke with a start. His hand was closing around the gun on the bedside table beside him when he realized just who the small hand shaking his arm belonged to.

“Duncan?” He whispered, trying not to wake Nora, who was snoring softly beside him. “Is everything okay?”

“I had a bad dream.” Duncan’s childish voice stumbled over the words, and in the moonlight, MacCready saw tears shining on his little face. “Daddy, I’m scared.”

“RJ? What is it?” Nora was stirring, still mostly asleep.

“Duncan had a nightmare.” MacCready reached out and pulled Duncan into the bed beside him. He used to sleep with his son every night. After Lucy died, he would lay next to him in whatever bed they were sleeping in that night, and watch his little chest rise and fall, unable to understand how someone like him had any part in creating somebody so perfect. He missed that, sometimes. Missed how young Duncan was, missed having him close, missed feeling like it was just the two of them against the world. “Sleep with me, how’s that, buddy?”

“Okay.” But to MacCready’s surprise, Duncan clambered over him and burrowed into the space between him and Nora. He balled himself up anxiously. “There were monsters.”

Nora was awake now. She looked down at Duncan like… well, like a mother would. Like Lucy would have. MacCready felt a twinge in his heart at the softness of her smile. “Don’t worry, honey. You’re safe with us.”

Duncan looked up at her, still breathing in little tearful hiccups. “I am?”

She smoothed his hair back out of his face. “Definitely.” He snuggled closer to her, and so easily, like it was something she’d done thousands of times, she wrapped her arm around him and planted a kiss on his forehead. “It’s okay. You’re safe.”

Duncan rested his head against her chest and closed his eyes. Nora yawned, and reached blindly for MacCready’s hand. She squeezed it once, twice, three times. A code of theirs for I love you. He squeezed back.

MacCready watched them there for a long time, until both of their breathing slowed. Then, moving carefully as possible, he extricated himself from the tangle of people in the bed. He crept down the hallway and then to the front door. He made sure to shut it slowly behind him so it wouldn’t creak.

He sat down on the front steps of their home. Sanctuary was quiet at night. There were the guard posts, and a few roaming people on night shifts, but they all kept to themselves. He liked how peaceful it was here; it reminded him of the farm he’d lived on with Duncan for that brief time. 

He traced his eyes over the cloudless sky of stars, looking for constellations, and thought about Lucy. Lucy, his first love, his wife, the mother of his son. The first person who ever made him want to be a better man. The first person who showed him that he could have a different life, a good life. The first person who touched him like he was something to be gentle with.

He sat there a long time before he heard movement in the house, and he couldn’t help but smile to himself as the front door creaked open loudly. Nora was good at many things, things he could never hope to be good at, but being stealthy had never been one of them. It was just another way they complemented one another.

She sat down beside him. “I guess you heard me coming?”

“Yeah,” He said. Absently, he took her hand.

“Can’t sleep?”

He shook his head.

Nora’s eyes searched his face. “What are you thinking, RJ?”

He sighed. “I’m thinking about Lucy.”

“Oh,” She said, and her expression softened. This conversation wasn’t a new one. In the earliest days of their relationship, they’d spent hours upon hours discussing their dead spouses, what they were like, how the relationship was, how much they missed them- more than once they’d comforted each other while one or both of them cried. Even now, as happy and committed to one another as they were, they both still had their moments of grief. And they both understood. “Tell me about it.”

“Duncan… Duncan isn’t going to remember her.” The words seemed to pierce the quiet of the night. It was so terrible to say out loud. “He wasn’t even a year old when she died. And it  _ kills  _ me that Lucy isn’t here to be his mother. She was such a good one- loving, and patient, and kind. She had this instinct about kids, one I’ve never had, and she loved him… I mean, she loved him more than anything.

“And then there’s you.” He gave her the ghost of a smile. “You’re the love of my life, Nora. You and Duncan are the only two people I care about, and seeing you and him tonight, how much he trusts you, how good you are with him…” He rubbed circles into her hand with his thumb. “Lucy isn’t here to be his mom, but I know that she’d want somebody like you to give him what she can’t.”

Nora looked at him with an indecipherable expression. “RJ, I-”

“I’ve been sitting here wondering if me feeling this way is a betrayal to her, somehow. If it’s wrong. But I know Lucy. All that would matter to her, and all that matters to me, is that Duncan is happy and healthy and loved, and that he’s got a shot at a better life then the one we had. And I think… I think that you and I can give him that.”

“I don’t want to try to replace his mom, but if he’ll have me…” Nora smiled, and he realized she was about to cry. “I know me and you can give him everything.”

He brought their interlocked hands to his lips, kissed the back of hers, then wrapped his arms around her in a tight hug. He didn’t ever want to let go. “I love you so much.”

“I love you too,” She whispered.

“Daddy? Nora?”

Duncan was standing in the doorway, rubbing his eyes with his little chubby hands, Dogmeat sitting dutifully at his feet; with all the emotional upheaval, they hadn’t heard the door open.

“Oh, hey buddy.” MacCready said, trying to pull himself together. “What are you doing up again?”

“The bed was empty! I wanted to know where you guys went,” He said, looking at them both with a comically suspicious face. “Are you playing outside games?”

The two adults laughed; Duncan had learned the concept of outside games just a few days ago after an incident with an old kickball and a set of dishes drying on the counter. 

“No, we’re not playing any games,” Nora said. “Me and your daddy were just having a grown-up talk.”

Duncan pulled a face. “Well, I wanna go back to bed. I want you guys to come too.”

MacCready smiled. He stood and scooped Duncan up in his arms. “Then let’s go. It’s too late for grown-up talk anyway.” He shifted Duncan to one side, and held out a hand for Nora. “Coming, baby?”

“I’m coming.” She was smiling so wonderfully, and he felt like he was falling in love with her all over again.

“But can we play outside games tomorrow?” Duncan muttered. His head had dropped onto MacCready’s shoulder. 

Nora shut the door behind them as they entered the house, and it seemed to creak even more loudly than before. MacCready raised an eyebrow at her, and she just rolled her eyes.

“Daddy? Can we?” Duncan repeated sleepily.

MacCready kissed the top of his head. His son was healthy in his arms, and Nora was holding his hand; he wondered how the hell he got so lucky. “Yeah, we can, buddy.”

“I can’t wait.”

He squeezed Nora’s hand, once, twice, three times. “Me neither.”

**Author's Note:**

> Title taken from a line in "Keep Me in the Open" by Gang of Youths. 
> 
> Hope you liked this! I absolutely love to write their little family, especially Duncan. He's an angel.
> 
> Comments and kudos are always appreciated :)


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